The present invention is directed to smoke evacuation apparatus, and more particularly to an improved collector for capturing smoke and other airborne debris generated in the course of electrosurgery and laser surgery.
Electrosurgery and laser surgery are found in more widespread use, and particularly in many types of dermatologic, cosmetic and/or plastic surgery procedures. As is well known to those skilled in the art, electrosurgery may involve the use of electrically heated needles which may be used to burn tissue from the surgical site or may involve electrodesiccation and fulguration procedures in which an electric arc is generated between a needle and surgical site.
By the same token, laser surgery is likewise gaining widespread acceptance in procedures in which a laser is used to burn and/or vaporize tissue from a surgical site. Such laser surgical techniques are becoming more widely used in a variety of dermatologic surgery operations. In both electrosurgery and laser procedures, the surgical techniques employed generate a great deal of smoke and other airborne particulate matter in the vicinity of the surgical site. Because such particulate matter itself may be pathogenic, smoke evacuation techniques have been developed to physically remove the smoke and other surgical debris from the surgical site.
A number of smoke evacuators have been developed for that purpose. One particularly successful example is the smoke evacuator described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,779 to Charles R. Yeh. While smoke evacuators like that described in the foregoing patent have received widespread acceptance, they may nonetheless operate at less than maximum efficiency in the collection and removal from the surgical site of smoke and surgical debris. One of the reasons that smoke evacuator techniques heretofore used have not been optimally efficient is because the nozzle of the smoke evacuator, in most applications, must be located within approximately two inches of the surgical site.
Otherwise, there is a risk that substantial portions of the smoke and debris thus generated may dissipate into the atmosphere from the surgical site, posing health hazards to health care workers. Indeed, such electrosurgery and laser surgery techniques, because they tend to disperse blood into an aerosol, leave behind such aerosols which can pose a health risk to anyone entering the theater of the surgical operation, even several hours after the surgery has been completed. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, such surgical debris, including the blood aerosols above referred to, may contain pathogenic organisms, and particularly viruses. It is important that such debris be collected and removed from the environment as completely as possible.
Substantial improvements in the collection of smoke and debris are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,568. That patent is directed to a smoke evacuator and an improved collector therefor in which a fluid nozzle is positioned adjacent to a surgical site to supply a rapidly moving fluid stream in the area of the surgical site to entrain smoke and surgical debris and therefore effect its removal from the surgical site. Also positioned in the vicinity of the surgical site is a collection nozzle having a flared horn portion positioned to receive the rapidly moving fluid stream having smoke and surgical debris entrained therein. The collection nozzle is connected to an evacuation system to convey the rapidly moving fluid stream having smoke and surgical debris entrained therein.
In the preferred embodiment, the flared horn portion has a hyperbolic configuration to create a flow of fluid in an essentially laminar flow. While the hyperbolic configuration is quite effective in removing smoke and surgical debris from the surgical site, it requires relatively close manufacturing tolerances. In addition, the collector described in the foregoing patent does not include any means for filtering particular matter from the rapidly moving air stream. That function is typically performed by the evacuation system containing appropriate filters for such particulate matter.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus for collecting and removing, with maximum efficiency, smoke and other surgical debris generated as a result of electrosurgical and laser surgical techniques.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide apparatus for the collection and removal of smoke and surgical debris in which substantially all of the smoke and surgical debris can be collected and removed from the environment.
It is a more specific object of the invention to provide apparatus for the collection and removal of smoke and surgical debris which can be used to efficiently collect such smoke and debris when used in combination with electrosurgery and laser surgery instruments which can be manufactured inexpensively and which can be provided with a filtration system for collecting particulate matter.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter with a description of the present invention.
The concepts of the present invention reside in a smoke evacuator for use in electrosurgery and laser surgery to collect smoke and surgical debris from a surgical site utilizing a collector having a body portion adapted to be maintained at a reduced pressure. The collector include a flared horn nozzle portion to promote flow of smoke and surgical debris into the body portion for removal from the surgical site. The collector also includes a filter positioned on the body portion to remove particulate matter contained in the smoke and surgical debris from the environment of the surgical site.
In the preferred embodiment, the flared horn nozzle portion is in the nature of a continuous annular lip integral with one end of the body portion. The lip includes a smooth curved surface which extends from the body portion exteriorly therefrom so that the lip includes a surface portion having a hemispherical cross-section so that the lip extends downwardly in a direction substantially parallel to the interior walls of the body portion. It has been found that the use of such a lip promotes a smooth laminar flow of a fluid stream containing smoke and surgical debris entrained therein from the environment of the surgical site into the body portion of the collector for removal of the smoke and surgical debris from the environment of the surgical site. Such lip configuration also serves to expand the field of influence thereby assuring the complete capture of smoke and debris.
Thus, in use, the collector can be connected to a source of reduced pressure to maintain the body portion at a reduced pressure whereby a fluid stream from the surgical site is drawn around the lip and into the body portion of the collector whereby smoke and surgical debris entrained in the fluid stream is removed from the surgical site. As the entrained smoke and surgical debris is drawn into the body portion of the of the collector, the filter positioned thereon serves to remove particulate matter and blood aerosols from the environment of the surgical site. It has been found that the collector of the present invention is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and use. In addition, it can be fabricated out of inexpensive materials and thus is disposable after use to avoid biohazard and contamination of subsequent surgical operations.